I've been trying to use local honey lately. My oldest has seasonal allergies so I hear that is supposed to help. She usually enjoys it spread all over toast for breakfast.
And ever since a recent tea party at her friend's house, she's been asking for tea with her breakfast as well. Another opportunity to sweeten with native honey.
Besides the fact that local honey is supposedly better, I like to support the local guy. My last local honey had come from Hartford Farm & Garden. I ran out after the garden shop was closed for the season so I checked their sister gift shop, Sparkleberries, which is open year round, but I came up empty. Thanks to a bunch of replies to a solicitation I posted on Facebook, I found out about a local apiary super close to my house that sells honey in every season. Sweet!! (Pun intended.) And not long after that one of my best friends called me one evening to say she just happened to be in a shop and was staring at jars that exact local honey. She delivered two jars to me a couple days later.
Well, last week after the typical honey-on-toast breakfast, the girls and I gathered at the table to do our morning devotions before we started school. It led us to Proverbs 16:24, "Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Boy did that come at the right time! My girls have been talking so nasty to each other this past week and my middle child has been especially sassy with me. Lots of bickering, screaming, selfishness and dishonoring bad attitudes around here lately.
So after reading and discussing with them as much as I knew about sweet words benefiting the soul and honey's benefits to the body, I came up with an idea. Every day I will evaluate each of their speech at lunch-time and at the end of the day. If I notice "sweet talk" throughout their morning, I will reward them with a big spoonful of honey. And after dinner (or at some point before brushing teeth), I will evaluate and potentially reward their second half of the day the same way. Every time I hear one of them starting down the "it's MINE!" road or throw back a "no its not" to me, I ask them if those words are sweet like honey. I don't expect perfection, but a trend in the right direction.
I wish I could say I've been spooning out a lot of honey this past week but I have not. (Although my middle girl did admit -- while flashing me that sweet & innocent little grin and batting those long eyelashes -- that she'd been sneaking and sticking her finger in the jar I'd left on the table.)
Don't let that look fool you! She can be SO SWEET but equally sassy.
Of course, like any scripture that I try to impress on my kids, it usually comes right back to me. God has a sense of humor like that. I've blown it a lot lately too. When their back and forth heats up, I chime in even hotter.
"KNOCK IT OFF! THAT'S ENOUGH!!!"
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO??
"ARE THESE WORDS AS SWEET AS HONEY?!?!?"
Has my reaction been sweet to their soul? Healing to their bones? Not always! I decided to look at the rest of Proverbs 16 and pulled out a few more nuggets for myself:
v21: "The wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant words promote instruction."
v23: "A wise man's heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction."
v32: "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city."
Oh I've been a warrior, ready to take this city by storm all right! But my unpleasant words (and tone) are not promoting instruction. If I'm not patient and exhibiting a controlled temper, how can I expect pleasant words from them?
James 1:19-20 tells me that "everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God." And I am reminded that I am the first Bible my children will ever read. I've had to apologize to them (and God) for my outbursts. Satan tempts mom too. God forgives mom too. Mom can claim God's mercy and grace too!
So on to more tangible treasures...I've had this cute little honey pot for years. I probably paid under $1 at a yard sale for it, though its been so long I don't remember.
I'm tempted to take it off this shelf above my stove where it just collects dust and actually use it instead.
Does anyone reading this know anything about keeping honey in a container that's not airtight? Any issues? Does anyone have any information from trustworthy sources about the legitimacy of local honey helping allergies? And does it actually cure the allergy or just relieve the symptoms? I would like to learn (and teach) more about that. I appreciate any feedback on this topic.
Many months ago, I don't remember exactly when, I asked my mom to be on the lookout for something for me at The Salvation Army. There is a corner of uncontrollable clutter in our nursery that has been there since we converted it from an office over three years ago. The pile is half office crap and half baby crap. On top of a random, cheasy old end table my husband had growing up. It's too embarrasing to share a picture of. It drives me CRAZY and I've wanted better storage there for a long time. So I told my mom I wanted something like a hutch or large shelving unit for storage. Well my mom never found anything before she quit that job a few weeks ago.
So I had a few minutes after grocery shopping last week Tuesday before I picked up my kids. (Yes, I am spoiled, my hubby's Gram watches my two oldest girls so I can shop in sanity every week.) I zipped into Sally's to scout out the furniture department and I was extatic to find something that I thought would work for my clutter corner. It would need new paint and hardware, but it had great potential and it was only $30 (marked down from $50)! I asked the lady behind the counter for a measuring tape and measured the unit. When I got home, I measured the spot in the room to see it if would fit. And it would! (Like a glove.)
The next day after lunch, I trekked back into Sally's with the kids to see if it was still there. I figured if it was still there, it was meant to be. And it was! So my challenge was how to get this beast of a piece of furniture and my kids back home, because both would not vit in my van at the same time. As it turns out, Gram happens to live around the corner so I called her up to see if she was available. And she was! My plan was to squeeze all three kids all in her backseat (if they all fit in my old Corolla they can fit in just about anything) so I could put all my van seats down to fit the shelving unit. Can I just say how much I LOVE MY VAN! (And Stow 'n Go!)
My next challenge was getting the beast into the van. Sally's doesn't promise they will help you load up. In fact, they have signs posted that you must bring your own help to load furniture. And Gram wasn't exactly going to be able to help with this enormous and heavy thing. I figured it couldn't hurt to ask the guy working in the back of the store if he knew of anyone that could help me...pretty please! And he did! He rounded up a kid from the Salvation Army program that isn't usually there but happend to be working there that day. So he and another girl helped wheel it out on a dolley. Between the three of us, we managed to squeeze the thing in. The widest section of the van's back door is the exact same length as the widest part of the furniture unit. It was a close call! So after blood, sweat, and tears (of joy), it was in tight, but the back door couldn't quite close all the way. It appeared to be staying down even though it was not latched so I decided to take the risk and drive like that. I'd come this far - a back door wasn't going to stand in my way!
So off I went with my "back door is open" indicator light flashing and signal beeping at me. Gram and all three girls pulled out behind me. Well, as soon as I picked up speed on the road, doesn't the back door swing right up, all the way open. I immediately pulled over and waved Gram on to keep going to my house. I'd figure this out. We always keep bungee cords in the car so I rigged up a few of those, starting from behind one tire, hooked in the side bumper, around the mostly shut door, and hooked around the other side bumper. It was tight. I was confident it would stay down this time. And it did! I pulled in my driveway only a few minutes after Gram. WOO HOO!!!
I unloaded the kids and their carseats, hugged, thanked and said bye to Gram, and went in to get kids down for naps. My next challenge was how to get the beast back OUT of the van so that I could take the kids to their AWANA program at church right after dinner. With two kids sleeping and the other in front of the TV, I headed out to the van with a Superwoman attitude. I decided to back the van up to my garage door and figured somehow I'd slide it out and get it in far enough to shut the garage door and deal with it later. After quite a while of pushing, shoving, and pulling, moving the van backwards and forwards a bunch of times, and a few close calls (including a painful jab in the ribs), I got the beast 95% of the way out by myself. As dark clouds loomed overhead, I was starting to get worried that it was really stuck where it was. That's when my neighbor came to the rescue. He had to have seen me out the window. The two of us managed to unwedge the top molding in order to slide it the rest of the way out, stand it up, and drag it into the garage just enough to shut the door. AAAAhhhhh. The glorious feeling of victory.
So here is the big old beast, dusty and a little beat up, just waiting for a makeover...Which I can't imagine I'll get to until one nice spring weekend when my hubby is actually home to help move it and keep the kids out of the way. All of the shelves are permanently placed except one that is adjustable. I'll keep it in line with the same shelf on the other side so it is all even. The drawers are faux and the bottom cabinets open like two little french doors on both sides.
While I impatiently wait for my opportunity to paint, I'll keep an eye out for new hardware. My vision for the finished product is something along the lines of two thirds of this picture from Restoration Hardware's Baby and Child furniture line.
Of course the same amount of shelving from Restoration Hardware would cost me $1,800 plus shipping. Mine only cost me $30 plus whatever paint and hardware comes to. And a lot of my time and effort. But its soooo...worth it. And it was worth waiting to find too. Whenever I finally get around to completing the makeover, I'll be sure to post it here!
Oh yeah, and before I forget, I wanted to share one little treasure I found at Sally's when I was in line to pay for the furniture. They always have a little tablescape set up in the front of the store with merchandise from the store. That day it happened to be decorated with green stuff, in anticipation for St. Patrick's day. Well, didn't this little gravy boat just beckon me. And for $2.99 I said yes. I LOVE this color green. It coordinates with my china quite well. I'll probably put it out on display somewhere because I think its so pretty. It would also make a nice short vase for cut flowers or potted ivy. We'll see...I've got options.
A few weeks ago, I came across an inspiring poem in my reading called "Leisure" by William Henry Davies. It really struck me and I knew immediately that I would continue to think about it and probably write about it. (In fact, I just checked and I started the first draft for this post on January 28 and have been working on it ever since!)
Rather than type out the poem for you, I'm sharing this YouTube video I found that more creatively illustrates it:
I stumbled across that poem just days after my Bible study led me to a very convicting verse: 2 Thessalonians 3:11, "We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies." And then the second half of verse 13: "...never tire of doing what is right."
How I use my time is something that's been on my mind a lot lately. If one end of the "how to use your time" spectrum is to be idle (lazy) and the other end is to be a busybody (wasteful), then somewhere in the middle must include time "to stand and stare" while being busy working hard at things that matter for eternity. That's where I want to be because those are things I really value - for myself, and for my kids.
Time to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 146:10). Time to soak in the beauty of His creation and how it reflects His character.
February skies...anticipating the spring we can already feel in the air!
Time with my kids to sing and dance.
A little long but I was too lazy to edit it shorter.
And apparently my kids didn't pick up any of the dance moves they learned fom X-Box!
Time to read . . . and be read to.
And to laugh at what you read, thanks to Dr. Seuss!
Time to impress God's Word upon our hearts. To talk about it with my kids when I sit at home and when I walk along the road, when I lie down and when I get up (Deuteronomy 6:7).
And when we walk through the woods.
Time to look not only to my own interests, but also to the interests of others (Philippians 2:4).
The popular book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp has also sparked a lot of new convictions in the area of my time.
For a while, I had heard so many good things about this book from people I know but I hadn't actually picked it up myself yet. Then almost a month ago I was given the book to read and speak about in relation to the topic of "The Battle for the Mind" on a small panel with other woman for a women's brunch at my church.
I won't go into that topic much here but instead extend an open invitation for any ladies to come to "The Divine View" (as opposed to the lame T.V. show "The View") discussion and brunch. I promise you'll leave changed for the better! Saturday, February 25, 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. at North Uxbridge Baptist Church.
So I started reading One Thousand Gifts immediately. I still haven't gotten even half way through it but Chapter 4, called "a sanctuary of time" is what has hit home for me the most so far. Allow me to share some of my favorite quotes:
"Oh yes, I know you, the busyness of your life leaving little room for the source of your life."
"From the time the alarm first rings and I stir on our pillows touching, stretch over bare back and check those relentless hands keeping time on that clock. The time, always the time, I'm an amateur trying to beat time. The six kids rouse. We race. The barn . . . and hurry. The breakfast . . . and hurry. The books, the binders . . . and hurry! In a world addicted to speed, I blur the moments into one unholy smear. I have done it. I do it still. Hands of the clock whip hard. So I push hard and I bark hard and I fall hard when their wide eyes brim sadness and their chins tremble weak, I am weary and I am the think clear skin, reflecting their fatigue, about to burst, my eyes glistening their same sheer pain. The hurry makes us hurt."
"Hurry always empties a soul."
"It takes a full twenty minutes after your stomach is full for your brain to register satiation. How long does it take your soul to realize that your life is full? The slower the living, the greater the sense of fullness and satisfaction."
I'm not as harried as I once was when I "juggled it all" with a full-time job, and commute, and daycare - when I was a hamster on its wheel. The Christian life is a race (1 Corinthians 8:24-27) but its not supposed to be a rat race! I can identify with the blurred moments, the pushing hard and the barking hard that Voskamp describes. I know, hurry does hurt!
I'm home now so the pace of life is sweetly slower. Yes, the doctor, dentist, and hair appointments always seem to fall in the same week as ministry meetings. And my few personal social activities are usually feast or famine. But I have made a conscious effort not to fill my calendar with a lot of weekly commitments. The thought of chauffeuring my kids to and from gymnastics and soccer and this club and that makes me dizzy. I've limited our activities to a few with the most value. So then, where do my days go? How can I be so busy yet look back on a week and realize I didn't take enough time to stand and stare? Or that I have nothing to show for my busyness? Or that I grew tired of doing what is right? Or that the busyness of life didn't leave time for the source of life (the Bread of Life - John 6:35, 48 & 51 and Living Water - John 4:10-11)? I hate it when my soul catches up with weeks or months of that!
Granted, being home with three young children does keep me legitimately busy with such noble and glorious tasks as making and feeding meals, changing diapers, wiping bums, nursing... And teaching. And planning for teaching. It it not ironic that one of my daily email devotionals last week was called "Let's Make Time"! Check it out! I am called to take quality time with and for my family, but I'm also called to more than that.
Most recently, my Bible study has led me to a few other verses and convicting questions. In 1 Corinthians 15:58 it tells me to let nothing move me and to always give myself fully to the work of the Lord. In Hebrews 12:1 it tells me to throw off everything that hinders me and the sin that so easily entangles. Will Jesus say to me, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"? (Matthew 25:21) Though I need to do these things well, He's talking about more than just cooking, cleaning, and child rearing.
When do I find that time...
...to be still and know that He is God?
...to soak in the beauty of His creation?
...to sing and dance and read with my kids?
...to impress God's Word upon my own heart and the hearts of my family and friends?
...to look to the interests of others?
...to serve whole-heartedly in my church ministries?
The time is there, but I'm either being idle and lazy with it or I'm being a busybody and wasting it. I need to make two concrete changes in my time management and both will be very difficult for me. I need the Holy Spirit's help and friends' accountability!
First, I need to be disciplined to get up earlier when the house is still quiet to shower, read my Bible, pray and plan my day/priorize my time. I usually leave this all to the evening...if I do it. But that's also time for me and hubby to connect without distractions, so I want to protect that time. I am being idle when I sleep in until my kids wake me up. Which means I shouldn't stay up till the wee hours blogging! Eeek! Hey, that's why long breaks between posts are not so uncommon for me. It's not for lack of content, but when do I find time to blog too??!!
Second, I need to keep away from distractions on the computer. I hate how it sucks my time away without me realizing it! I've whittled down the sites and blogs I regularly read to just a select few - most to encourage and help me with with important goals and a couple just for fun. I never intend to just surf the web for entertainment. And I'm finally okay to go a day without checking my Facebook feed. But when I do plan to sit down for just five minutes to respond to some important emails, read a blog or quick check Facebook, something that is not-so-important always engages me (darn those digital marketing and content geniuses!). One interesting link leads to another, which leads to another, which leads to another. And there goes a half hour. Or more. It could be great stuff. I've stumbled across lots of amazing resources that way. For instance, the other day one of these rediculous link trails led me to an interesting critique of the One Thousand Gifts book. (If you have or are planning on reading the book, I recommend reading that critique as well. I'm still digesting it.) But usually that half hour or more is time that's completely wasted feeding that little materialistic devil sitting on one shoulder. :) (Soo...I did officially start using Pinterest just to catalog things I happen to come across on the web...) I need that half hour to stay busy doing what is right! Or I need that half hour to "stand and stare."
"A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare." - W. H. Davies
Last week Friday, hubby took the girls on a much-anticipated "Special Day with Daddy." These special days out with just dad live long in my daughters' memories no matter what they end up doing. Don't laugh, but this special day began with redeeming a trunk full of bottles and cans. My girls love to feed those machines. As much as they love cashing in.
So before heading out to lunch, they unloaded the back of my minivan at the grocery store just down the street. They hadn't been gone all that long when I got a call from hubby, telling me they were pulling back into the driveway soon and that I should go outside to meet them in one minute. I asked twenty questions about why, for what, and what he was doing, but it was clear he wasn't going to tell me. So I threw on my jacket and shoes and headed out full of curiosity.
As I ran up to the van, hubby rolled down the window and the side door slid open. He handed me a bouquet of flowers and they girls announced with excitement from their seats in the way back that they used their money from the soda bottles to buy me flowers. "It was daddy's idea but we paid for it with our own money and we got to pick them out!!!" Good hubby. Good dad. :) Of course I gave them all hugs and kisses and told them how thoughtful and giving that was to spend their "hard earned" money on flowers for me.
I waved them off for the rest of their special day as I skipped back into the house to continue preparing for my oldest's birthday party that was to take place that evening. I filled one of my favorite vases with water and the flower food, took the cellophane off the flowers, and plopped the bouquet into the vase. With party preparations at the top of my list I didn't have time to do much else with the flowers...but I wanted to!
So the weekend came and went, including a birthday party, dinner and crafting with some of my best buds, and a day tending to and cleaning up after a pukey kid. Enter Monday. Of a brand new week with a wide open empty calendar. In other words, finally time to break down the bouquet into bud vases and place them around the house. Wheeee!!
First I pulled out all the little light pink roses and put them in a short white yard sale vase on the end table by "my side" of the couch.
Has anyone else read Voskamp's "One Thousand Gifts"? Since reading a critique, I now have mixed thoughts on it.
More of what I've gleamed from that book to come in a future post.
If my friend Angie is reading this, I hope she appreciates that this white vase that used to sit on my office desk year-round with fake tulips in it now holds fresh flowers. :)
Why couldn't my end table always look this uncluttered?
More on what is usually stacked high on on this table to come in a future post.
So after removing the roses from the bouquet, next I took out the chrysanthemums. Yes, they are died a bright pinkish red. Except one flower sort of missed most of the die. I cut these down short to put them in the Dugger family's toothbrush holderthis vase scored for $1 at a yard sale this summer. I placed this in the middle of the buffet table in my kitchen.
Next I put two large pink carnations in a 10 cent green vase that I scored at the same yard sale as the yellow vase above. I placed these on my night stand beside my favorite little hobnail milk glass lamp - one of two I scored at a yard sale years ago for $5.
One carnation and one mum perfectly brighten up the bathroom in a vintage bottle behind the toilet.
And because my girls' favorite part of the bouquet they picked out was the tacky foam heart decoration, I placed that with the flowers that were left in another one of my favorite little green yard sale vases on the dining room table, where they will see it most.
Ain't nothin wrong with a grocery store bouquet for Valentine's Day!
I wondered if the day would ever actually come. And I think she was beginning to think the same thing. My mom quit her job at The Salvation Army. She is moving on to much bigger and better things, to the detriment of the rest of the family. I've posted here and here about how I've benefited from my mom being a Sally's "insider".
Gone are the days when I get the phone call from my mom when just what I've been looking for shows up in a box of donations. Gone are the days when mom stops by in the afternoon with a few "like new" posh boutique-style dresses for the girls that she paid a buck or two for at work. Gone are the Christmases where with every awesome item we pull out of our stocking we ask, "Mom, don't tell me you found this at Sally's?" and she nods with a smile. It was fun while it lasted. My mom didn't work at Sally's for the paycheck. She was in it for the treasures. (It's in my genes, you see?)
But I am so proud of her. She waited until her 50s to start a career she is truly passionate about. She spent the last three decades focused on her family, staying home to raise us kids, cook home made meals, and keep a clean house. For a long time she sacrificed "nice things" like owning a home, new cars and pretty much buying herself anything new so that we could have a private Christian education. It wasn't until the last one of us flew the cuckoo's nest that she finally went back to school to pursue her dream career in medical coding. She graduated from her program and became a certified medical coder in 2009. Little did she know just how bad the job market was.
For the last year and a half she has been actively searching for a job in a field where no one wants to hire someone without experience. It's been a long hard road full of frustration and disappointment. She's been tempted to just give up on her dream many times. But she hasn't. Application after application. Cover letter after cover letter. Phone call after phone call. She has persisted. And finally, in God's perfect timing, she's landed her first coding job. I pray that she finds it rewarding. I know that God will use her gifts and talents to improve her workplace and that she will be a light to her new coworkers.
There's a scripture that comes to mind when I think about my mother's work ethic. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." Colossians 3:23
I say our first Florida treasure hunt because it was sort of a family affair. My girls are veteran yard salers but I've thought it best to keep them away from antique stores in their younger years. Familiar with the phrase, "like a bull in a china shop?"
We were nearing the end of our first of (hopefully) many Florida vacations. Hubby had flown home to get back to work. My in-laws had already overlapped with us for a week and I decided to stick around an extra week with the kids and Grammy & Poppy. Having already done all the Disney we were going to do and with lots of other local kid-fun checked off the list, my mother-in-law suggested we head into old downtown Kissimmee for a day. Tucked away from the neon lights, typical "$2.99 Disney t-shirt" souvenier shops and fastfood restaurants were some unique places like antique shops, cafes, galleries, gourmet bakeries and ice-cream shops. Right up my alley.
I was a little nervous stepping into the first antique shop with the girls. I gave them the whole "we look with our eyes, not our fingers" spiel and had to continually remind them to "stop touching" and "no running." It was fun watching them "Oooooh!" and "Aaahhh!" and point to things they found interesting - usually vintage toys.
Even the baby was excited to be out and about with the big girls on her first antiquing trip!
I found lots of things I really liked. Like this set of Asian-inspired plates.
I LOVE the flowering trees with birds in them. Surprised? :) If I could have bought just one I would have, and added it to the collection of photos and frames on my dining room wall. But since they were sold as a set, I passed. I've got no where to display them all and I would rarely, if ever, use them for serving food.
I have a sweet spot for silhouettes so I paused to admire these. But since I have them of my own kids, I passed these up.
I also loved this whole corner full of western-inspired treasures.
I think its the part of me that's dying to go back to Montana. And oh, if only I'd had a boy and that retro-cowboy inspired nursery. Then I would have at least picked up this little framed picture for sure. But since I had a girl, I continued on my way.
I left the first shop empty handed. My mother-in-law got a really cool necklace. Then we moved along down the street. In between shopping we stopped at this super-cool ice-cream shop called Boola. Someone needs to open a shop like this in the Blackstone Valley.
They actually make each dish of ice-cream individually. First, they squirt sweet cream into a metal bowl.
Then you choose your "toss-ins" from this loooong list. My oldest chose brownie and peanut butter cup in chocolate ice-cream and her sister chose M&Ms and sprinkles in vanilla ice-cream. I decided to share each of theirs. :)
Then, get this....liquid nitrogen is poured into the bowl of cream and toss-ins! SOOO COOOOOL!
My girls' eyes turned into big marbles as "smoke" poured all over the counter while the employee mixed and chopped.
Of course I forgot to take pictures of the best part - the finished product. But it was DE-LISH. Definately going back there again...next time!
So, on to the next curiousity shop. I just adored this vintage navy and white beaded purse. I would SO use this in the spring. I'm sitting here now wondering why didn't I get it again??!!
My M-I-L modeling the adorable purse and the necklace she bought at the first shop
And I don't know why I find old skeleton keys so appealing. Maybe its the mystery of what they once kept locked. Over the years I've seen various collections creatively displayed that look really cool. I've already got just one on display that actually locks my basement door. So I kept on perusing.
By the time we were done with this last shop, my oldest daughter and I had each found one treasure I was willing to buy. First, let me introduce you to Creepy Alice.
My daughter just had to have this doll and she immediately named her Alice. (It might have something to do with the fact tht she watched Alice in Wonderland the day before.) But you can see why I call her Creepy Alice. She's got a lazy eye...that my daughter is trying to immitate in the picture with her beloved new friend. I'm guessing this giant plastic doll is from the 60s or 70s based on her clothing.
Here is Alice sitting patiently on the bench while the girls played at the nearby park after our shopping excursion. Nevermind the fact that her pants have a gaping hole in the crotch and her shirt says "Peepers" all over it. Further confirming my nickname Creepy Alice. :)
I picked up a much more traditional, conservative, treasure for myself - a pair of silver earings that remind me of little silver platters. I just need to polish them up a tad more.
I'm proud to say that as we walked up to the registers to buy the doll and earings, the shop owner raved about how well behaved the girls were in her shop. She told them they could each take a free ring out of a little bowl of beaded rings on the counter. We thanked the lady, I paid and off we went. After a few minutes the girls each removed their rings and one asked me to hold hers. So as not to lose it I shoved it on one of my own fingers. I actually thought it was pretty cute and have continued to wear it on several occasions since.
Man, my hands are showing age!
You'll never see me model my whole hand...I'm always picking at my cuticles. I'm so ashamed!
There were a few other shops that I would have liked to visit that day but we were there on a Monday, when many antique shops are typically closed. I'm sure we'll be back to the area again...next time.
We officially survived our first Disney vacation. Okay, so we only spent one day at Magic Kingdom, but that was enough for one Florida trip. Baptism by fire. Our heads and wallets were spinning by the end of the day.
Literally spinning on the tea cup ride
Our oldest is five, so it was the perfect age to bring her - while she still thinks some of the characters are real. She and her two year old sister are young enough to still "believe in the magic," as Disney would put it. For my five year old, meeting the Disney Princesses was "a dream come true."
Weeks before we even left for Florida, my daughter made each of the Princesses a card. On the front she placed a big sticker of that Princess. Inside she wrote a message, personalizing it for each one. "Dear Ariel, God loves you. You are special," followed by the names of everyone in our family. And then on the back she drew that Princess and herself in the typical five year old "trees-grass-flowers-sun-sky" setting. The highlight of my day was watching her wait in anticipation to meet each princess and give them each her special card (that I actually remembered to hang on to at home, pack for FL, and bring to Disney). She'd jump up and down and clap her hands faster and faster as she got closer and closer to the front of the line. Of course all the other girls in line had their autograph books with them. We didn't think of that. She doesn't even know what that is. She asked me with deep concern, "How come Cinderella is giving all the other kids their cards back? Isn't she allowed to keep them?" :) Here are my girls giving some of the Princesses their cards.
I have to admit I'm not really a Disney fan and for the longest time, I remember how anti-Disney my hubby used to be. That was before his Marvel Comics stock got converted into Disney stock. And before he had three daughters. :) So we now tolerate Disney. We didn't know our oldest daughter was going to "drink the Disney Princess kool-aid" until it was too late. It was probably almost a year ago now that she came up to me one day and said, "Mom, you know how you know when it's true love?" Of course I prompted her to tell me. "It's when the prince kisses you like this." And she held my head in her hands and tipped her head to the side and kissed me on the lips. I was floored. No one told her this. This was what she had gleamed from the countless times she has watched The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Aladdin, and even Pocahontas.
I realize Disney is a culture based on fairy tales, but at age five, the line between pretend and real is still sort of blurry. As we (and 10,000 other people) were herded out of the Magic Kingdom park 2 1/2 hours after my girls' normal bedtime, I found myself analyzing our day. The girls had a ton of fun. We made great memories. But at the same time I felt a little sick. All we heard all day long - on every ride, at every show, in every shop - "Dreams do come true!" "Just believe!" "Believe in the magic!" "Wish upon a star and your dreams will come true!" Gag me.
Fast forward a few nights later. I was having a little quiet time, reviewing some Bible study notes from the book of Hebrews' chapter 11. I'm more than familiar with this "faith chapter" of the Bible but the notes made me think about a few things in contrast with our Disney experience. My Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) notes are copyrighted so I will not quote them word for word, but in essence they were saying that faith is not believing that we can be all we want to be, nor is it the power of positive thinking. Instead, faith is fully trusting God because his character has proven that he will do what he says he will do. How refreshing. SomeONE to believe in and a solid reason to trust Him. Anything less than that is just empty dreaming and wishing - the Disney way. And since the Bible is not copyrighted, here is the definition of faith found in Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
Fast forward a few weeks again to a couple of nights ago when I was reading notes on 1 Thessalonians in the same study. This time it was talking about hope instead of faith. It saddens me that, for many people, hoping is nothing more than wishing. There is no expectation. It is not based on any assurance. Just a blind, empty hope. But for a Christian, hope is so closely tied to faith and is based on the trustworthy character of God. Hope for a believer and follower of Christ is a waiting for something that is expected to come or happen. In 1 Thessalonians 1:3, the writer, Paul, is telling the early believers in Thessalonica that he remembers them for their "endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." Again, I found myself underlining a portion of my BSF notes on this passage. The hope Paul was referring to was not a passive sitting and waiting for something that might or might not happen. It was actively continuing to endure for a future certainty or reward based on what God had said and who He is.
What are you hoping for? Are you passively sitting around while you wait in blind hope for your "dreams to come true", "believing in the magic", "wishing upon a star"? Or are you actively, expectantly, enduring and waiting for something you are certain of based on the promises and character of a God who is always true to His Word, is all-powerful to overcome any and all barriers, and loves you with unconditional and unending love?
So, back to my daughter's Disney Princess obsession and her figuring out what she believed to be the sign of true love. Needless to say we've since talked quite a bit about what true love is really all about in contrast with all the "signs" prevalent throughout her favorite movies. We still have all of our Disney Princess movies, which we watch less often, but talk about more when we do. I did get rid of all our Disney Princess books - we've got tons of great kids books at home but the Disney Princess books were always her first choice. Now she can choose to read something with more substance instead.
I don't think my kids need to be sheltered from everything but I do want to control what influences the shaping of their values, what they believe to be true, and their aspirations. It's hard to curb a five year old girl's love of princesses but I've been determined to find her some princess stories where the main stars aren't hour-glass figured, have caked-on make-up, with a main mission in life to make a prince fall in love with them and fulfill all their materialistic fantasies. Over the past couple of years I've tried to find some other princess stories that illustrate natural beauty but focus more on a beautiful spirit and character that pleases The King. Here are a few of our favorites:
On a side note....I copied and pasted below what comes up when I searched Amazon for the Gigi books... How 'bout that Disney Princess ad? NO THANK YOU!!!
